LATEST: 118 Freed Homs Detainees Put Into Military Service

State media hailed a victory of Syria’s military on Sunday, taking the villages of Nab’ain and Kassab in northern Latakia Province in the west of the country.

The advance, reportedly as insurgents withdrew from the area because of shortage of supplies and ammunition, erased almost all of the opposition gains in a March offensive. The insurgents still hold the crossing — the last hold that the regime had controlled on the Turkish border — near Kassab.

However, State outlets are silent on another military development: the insurgent capture of a key hilltop in Daraa in the south.

The opposition forces had besieged regime units on Tel al-Jumou for weeks, using artillery, rockets, and even tanks. Video on Sunday shows insurgents celebrating on the hilltop and capturing Syrian troops.

The advance consolidates the insurgent hold on territory between Quneitra and Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising in March 2011.


118 Freed Homs Detainees Put Into Military Service

The Governor of Homs Province, Talal al-Barazi, has said that 118 men freed under an amnesty have been put into military service.

The detainees were released under a decree by President Assad last week after his nominal re-election.

“One hundred and eighteen men who were being held in the Al-Andalus school were released last Thursday as part of the amnesty decree,” Barazi said. “Around half of them were defectors from the army, and the other half were civilians who had not yet performed their military service.”

Video: More than 20 Killed in Regime Airstrike in Aleppo

Activists claim more than 20 people died when Syrian warplanes dropped two barrel bombs on a market in the Sukary area of Aleppo:

100s of Detainees Released Under Assad Amnesty

Prisoners in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, and Hasakeh Province in Syria’s northeast were released this weekend under the amnesty declared by President Assad after his re-election.

Syrian officials said 240 detainees were freed in Aleppo Province, 130 in Hama Province, and 65 in Hasakeh.

Opposition media posted the names of dozens of men released in Damascus.